Delicious Prickly Pear

In the locker room.

Due to the power outage, none of the lockers were locked.

Qi Xiao opened each locker to search through them, first in the men's changing room, then in the women's.

In the end, he collected two towels, a pink yoga mat, and a mechanical watch.

Qi Xiao put everything into a handbag he'd just found, climbed the stairs back to his train car, and adjusted the watch against the time shown on the screen.

After three minutes of comparison, confirming there was no discrepancy between the watch and the screen time, Qi Xiao felt relieved.

Good, with this watch, he wouldn't have to worry about missing the train's departure during future explorations.

It was now nine-fifty, and the train would depart in just over an hour.

In the gym, only the metal weights were left to move.

And those weights were exactly the materials needed for upgrading.

Qi Xiao clicked upgrade, which showed he could designate any area in the train car as a material input zone.

The upgrade required materials were:

[Metal: 300kg/0]

[Plastic: 150kg/0]

[Wood: 100kg/0]

Through the screen, he could freely designate areas within the initial train car as input zones.

Qi Xiao marked out an input zone and threw in an empty plastic bottle, which immediately disappeared.

The plastic collection progress reached 0.02kg.

Qi Xiao looked at the gym equipment outside - perfect upgrade materials!

......

At eleven o'clock, the train departed right on schedule.

Panting heavily, Qi Xiao leaned against the train car wall, sitting on the yoga mat.

"Damn it, why did that gym have to be so big..."

The metal dumbbells he could carry were furthest from the stairs, and with all the climbing up and down, he only managed to bring back some small dumbbells in an hour.

Qi Xiao set the entrance area as the input zone and threw in the dumbbells he'd brought.

After throwing these dumbbells into the input zone, the metal requirement was fully satisfied, even exceeding the target.

Current material collection progress:

[Metal: 300kg/400kg]

[Plastic: 150kg/5kg]

[Wood: 100kg/0kg]

He put the remaining dumbbells aside, not rushing to throw them all in.

The 9999+ chat room was active.

[Where's everyone's first stop? I'm stuck in a grassland, nothing but grass everywhere.]

[I'm in a rental apartment, only found some cookies and a few clothes.]

[Don't throw just anything into the input zone! I tried it - stuff doesn't disappear like metal and wood!]

[Bro, what did you throw in?]

[I took a huge dump. By the way, anyone got toilet paper to trade?]

[Awesome, bro's spirit of rule exploration is admirable! Here's a tree leaf for you!]

This guy was truly something else.

Compared to them, he was quite lucky.

He'd secured thirty-eight bottles of water and collected quite a bit of upgrade materials.

[Any ladies offering used items? Will trade food.]

[Don't survival games always have pretty girls trading underwear for food? Come on out.]

[Young man, I have some.]

[Damn, you're old enough to be my grandma. I said pretty girls, read carefully!]

[Brother, would a cute femboy work?]

Since it was the first day, everyone seemed to lack a sense of crisis.

Qi Xiao shook his head and opened the trading platform.

He needed to trade for food - water alone wouldn't cut it.

He listed half a bottle of mineral water, requesting instant noodles in exchange.

A light circle appeared in the train car.

Qi Xiao placed the mineral water in the circle, and after a flash of light, it vanished.

Three minutes later, the screen showed a successful trade.

Qi Xiao clicked to collect.

The light flashed again, and a pack of instant noodles appeared on the ground.

A convenient trading function indeed.

......

[The train will arrive soon, please hold on tight.]

Huh? Second day already?

Qi Xiao woke up to the announcement, pulled off the towel covering his stomach, and sat up from the yoga mat.

Yesterday, being the first day, he'd gone to bed early due to mental tension and exhaustion from moving dumbbells.

Qi Xiao got up and went to the train car screen to check information about this stop.

[Current Station: Shayin Town (Single-person station)]

[This station has large cactus forests with vipers present. Danger Level: 1]

Vipers, danger level 1?

Qi Xiao had heard of these - basically all of them were venomous.

One bite would probably end his journey.

As soon as he opened the car door, a wave of hot air hit his face.

So hot.

An endless desert stretched before his eyes. Qi Xiao stepped out of the car, shading his eyes with his hand.

Squinting, he could indeed see a large cactus forest not far away.

Purple-red fruits grew on top of the cacti.

Prickly pears!

Thinking about the sweet juice of prickly pears made Qi Xiao's mouth water.

But remembering the possible presence of vipers made him calm down.

"Men die in pursuit of wealth, as birds die in pursuit of food."

Qi Xiao sighed deeply, grabbed the handbag he'd found in the gym yesterday, and left the train car, walking toward the cactus forest.

Vipers usually come out at night; they should be inactive during such high daytime temperatures.

Qi Xiao consoled himself with this thought.

......

"Wow, so sweet!"

Qi Xiao picked a prickly pear, peeled off the purple-red skin, and took a bite. The rich juice burst in his mouth.

It tasted much better than dragon fruit.

Under the blazing sun, Qi Xiao became a fruit picker, harvesting ripe prickly pears.

With the handbag full, he carried it back to the train car.

Nine thirty-five, still an hour and a half until departure.

He could make another trip, but the remaining fruits were too high to reach.

If only he had a knife.

Qi Xiao opened the trading platform and searched for a machete.

After a flash of light, he eventually traded half a pound of prickly pears for a rusty chopping knife.

Though rusty with some nicks in the blade, he couldn't be picky at this point.

Qi Xiao dumped the prickly pears in the back of the car, then set out again with the knife and empty bag.

In the cactus forest.

Qi Xiao swung the knife, carefully avoiding the fallen tall cacti while collecting prickly pears.

Checking his watch - ten-thirty - he picked up his half-full bag of fruits and headed back.

Qi Xiao was eating fruit and humming a tune when, just before reaching the train car, he stopped in his tracks.

Gulp.

He swallowed hard.

Not far from the train car door, a triangular-headed snake was flicking its tongue in his direction.